While in the kitchen this afternoon preparing some stone fruit to go into a pie for tonight’s dinner, I happened to look up and out into the garden. One of the more unusual visitors had stopped by for a snack. There is now one less resident lizard who was unfortunate enough to be snatched up by that big beak.
Our home is on a rural parcel of slightly less than 5 acres which has lots of oak trees and other than my garden area is not fenced. We enjoy seeing the local wildlife pass through. For some, it is a regular pattern that depending on time of year is as dependable as a bus schedule. Others are random surprises that do not happen often.
Deer are common visitors. The moms and their babies have been regular summer visitors. Sometimes two or three families at a time. Antlers are a rarity and it seemed that when a male showed up a few times in past years, they were not particularly welcomed by the mothers with their offspring.
So this evening, having three young boys show up and decide to browse close to our house was unusual in more than one way. The largest of the three appeared to make some aggressive moves on one of the others at one point. But they quickly got back to the business of mowing the weeds on the back hill.
If I get time, tomorrow I will do a bit of summer pruning and leave the boys some fresh fruit tree branches to strip. Typically they come around a few times and then wander off to somewhere else for a while. Now that most of the annual vegetation has turned brown, fresh greens outside the fence may be the equivalent of the all you can eat buffet.
I noticed something — not sure what at first — sitting down the hill from our house. Decided it might be a cat. But something seemed odd about it. So I got out the binoculars and realized that it wasn’t one of the neighbor’s felines. About then it got up and started wandering and it was obvious it was not domestic kitty. It was way too husky and the tail was very short and the ears… It had been many years since the last time I saw one a bobcat here. Hopefully it will stick around for a while and work on the excess mouse, gopher and ground squirrel population.
I opened the shades in the “bonus” room early in the morning. And for a change instead of being so foggy everything was hidden, it was reasonably clear. And there was a fence post topper. This time, an owl (Great Horned Owl, I believe) out a bit late. Maybe looking for a sunrise snack?
The first two plantings of corn appear to be doing well. But as it turned out, only the first batch was really productive.
Borage is an interesting herb. The bees love the flowers and the plant easily turns into a three foot dome. And it reseeds itself so it will be coming up elsewhere in the garden for the next few years.
Meanwhile, the nectarine had a wonderful looking crop developing. Apparently the ground squirrel thought so as well and did not share any with us, The ground under the tree was littered with the remains of its feasting on the fruit.
